My mom has MS and is losing her sight. My dad is being tested for signs of Alzheimer's. I need to find out if I can be paid to be their in home caregiver. But I cannot find that information anywhere. Like how much are you paid? And how is that arranged?

CA has a very organized IHHSS program done by county. Google it. Your folks would need to apply & qualify for community based Medicaid. State / county evaluates what they need and pays a caregiver for care. iHHSS is in home health supportive services. A couple of folks have posted on this site about being in the program, I'm recalling that the hr wage isn't high but slightly above minimum wage, maybe 20/24 hrs a week average. It will never be full time job as once they get to that point the cost-benefit isn't there as they need a higher level of care in a facility. State does a caregiver training program. I'd bet red cross is involved as there's CPR. You have taxes, FICA taken out of your wages.

If you are quitting a well paid job with perks, think carefully before you do this. Caregiving for 6 mos morphs into 6 years. Even if they can qualify for Medicaid & IHHSS, it will not replace what you could make & build for retirement unless you are already very low income already or are already yourself retired & with a decent retirement income so the IHHSS $ is just extra.

If your folks have assets, they won't qualify for MediCal but they can do a personal care contract with you to pay you as thier caregiver. This really needs to be done by an experienced elder law atty in CA. Again there is taxes, W2, FICA. Often they have just too much to qualify for Medicaid so they essentially spend down by legitimately hiring you to be a paid caregiver.

Call a Homewatch CareGivers office near you and ask them. They may guide you to Medicaid, but they are very familiar with the services and help in the State of California. By the way, I do not work for any Homewatch CareGivers in California. :-)

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